<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Left Behind by ladybug114</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22433713">Left Behind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybug114/pseuds/ladybug114'>ladybug114</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Badass Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Friendship, Gen, Kingdom Hearts II - Freeform, Missing Scene, Riku (mentioned) - Freeform, Sora (mentioned) - Freeform, anyway... let kairi have more moments</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:21:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,112</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22433713</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybug114/pseuds/ladybug114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kairi passes through a portal, from the World That Never Was to Destiny Island, but her two best friends don’t come with her.<br/>She’s getting pretty tired of waiting at home.<br/>(A kh2 missing scene)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kairi &amp; Mickey Mouse (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi &amp; Riku &amp; Sora (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Left Behind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I don't really know where this fic came from. I'm working on a couple of other fics right now, but I just finished kh3 and re:mind, and this fic demanded to be written. Kairi deserves more agency and more personality, and I think a scene like this would have been really good for her character!!<br/>Takes place at the very end of kh2, while Riku and Sora are fighting Xemnas alone, and focuses on Kairi and Mickey (Donald and Goofy are there, but background). I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Kairi follows King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy through a portal in the World That Never Was, she’s expecting Sora and Riku to be right behind her. It’s been a long time since the three of them have been together, but Kairi has already started to adjust to seeing them both, the way things are supposed to be.</p>
<p>But then the portal closes, and she tries to reach out to them, but she can’t. The darkness of the portal, and the stark white walls and floors of the World That Never Was, and the faces of her two best friends, fade around her, and Kairi is left standing on a beach, staring at the sea that she has stared at for her whole life.</p>
<p>She’s not quite alone, though.</p>
<p>“What happened?” Donald asks from behind her, and for a moment, Kairi can’t find a way to answer him.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she says, finally, and her voice shakes. “The portal just… closed, with Sora and Riku still on the other side.”</p>
<p>She feels a hand on her arm, then, and looks down to see King Mickey looking up at her, smiling softly. “They were together, weren’t they?”</p>
<p>Kairi swallows around the lump in her throat and nods.</p>
<p>“Then they’ll be okay,” he says, firmly and with no room for doubt.</p>
<p>“But, Your Majesty, Xemnas is…” Kairi says anyway, trying not to picture what her friends might be facing.</p>
<p>“They’ll be okay,” the King says again, and Goofy and Donald nod and agree. “And,” he adds with a smile, “you can call me Mickey.”</p>
<p>Kairi lets herself smile back, just a little bit. “Thank you, Mickey,” she says, and then turns to look at the water again. “I just… hope they don’t take too long.”</p>
<p>“Well, we’ll be waiting right here when they come back,” says Goofy, and Kairi believes him- these three are willing to wait, no matter how long it takes. She doesn’t know what they’ve all been through, not entirely, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy are clearly close, and Riku and the King- Mickey- seem to be, too.</p>
<p>They stand quietly for a few minutes, and then Kairi hears Donald and Goofy move a little farther up the beach, finding a place to sit in the shade. She expects Mickey to follow them, but he stays by her side, looking out at the sea, waiting.</p>
<p>After a few more minutes, Kairi summons her Keyblade, almost absentmindedly, and Mickey jumps.</p>
<p>“Sorry!” Kairi says quickly, moving to dismiss it, but Mickey stops her with a hand.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” he says, smiling at her, and Kairi can’t help but smile back. “I just forgot you had one, that’s all.”</p>
<p>Kairi nods, turning the Keyblade in her hand, looking at it. “Riku gave it to me,” she says, and her voice catches on his name, just a bit. She pushes forward, ignoring the stumble and the sympathetic look that Mickey gives her. “I don’t fully understand, though,” she admits. “I didn’t really think Keyblades worked like that.”</p>
<p>“They don’t, usually,” Mickey says, apparently accepting the shift in subject. He summons his own Keyblade, looking at it in the same way Kairi is looking at hers. “I don’t know how Riku got that one, or how you’re able to wield it.”</p>
<p>Kairi laughs, a little bitterness seeping into her voice. “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” she says, dismissing the Keyblade with a flash of light and a flare of anger in her chest. “I killed a few heartless, sure, but I was still mostly helpless.” She shakes her head, clearing it of foggy memories from the first time they left the island, the most useless she’s ever been. “I could barely even help Sora and Riku fight.”</p>
<p>“That’s just because you haven’t learned yet,” Mickey says, simply, and Kairi looks at him quickly.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>Mickey shrugs, gesturing at the island. “Growing up, here, did you learn how to fight?”</p>
<p>“No,” Kairi answers, and she’s almost surprised to realize that it’s true. All those years watching Sora and Riku spar, and she never once joined them. </p>
<p>Mickey nods, as if that’s the answer he was expecting to hear. “Well, there you have it!” he says, the smile back on his face. “Sora and Riku had more practice to start with, and they’ve both been traveling and adventuring for longer than you have. It makes sense that they’d know how to fight better than you.”</p>
<p>“I guess,” Kairi admits, but her hand clenches into a fist at her side. “I want to help, though. I’m tired of being pulled to the side all the time.”</p>
<p>There’s a thoughtful look on Mickey’s face, and Kairi gets the feeling that he’s thinking about something far beyond her and the island. “Do you want to learn how to wield it?” he asks after a moment, turning back to her.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Kairi answers, firmly and with no hesitation. She’s never been more sure of anything in her life.</p>
<p>Mickey grins. “Well, gee, you’re eager!”</p>
<p>Kairi grins back, a little embarrassed. “It’s probably more complicated than just me saying yes, right?”</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Mickey admits, but he’s still grinning. “You already have a Keyblade, though, and no matter what you say, you know how to wield it. That’s the most difficult part.”</p>
<p>With another flash of light, Kairi summons her Keyblade back, just to remind herself that she can. </p>
<p>Mickey’s still holding his own Keyblade, and when Kairi summons hers, he holds it up in a ready position. “I can give you a head start, though,” he says, and there’s something mischievous in his eyes. </p>
<p>“Oh, you’re on,” Kairi says with a laugh, doing her best to copy his stance.</p>
<p>She’s still scared, half of her brain thinking about Sora and Riku, where they are and what they’re doing and if they’re ever coming back, but she lets that part of her brain slip to the back, focusing instead on Mickey in front of her and the Keyblade in her hand. It doesn’t take long for Donald and Goofy to notice what they’re doing, and they catch on quickly, Goofy letting her practice fighting against a shield and Donald against magic. </p>
<p>Maybe it doesn’t come as easily to her as it did to Sora and Riku, but for a few hours on that beach, Kairi puts her all into learning how to fight. When, finally, Sora and Riku come blasting out of the sky and into the water, Kairi is sweaty and tired and sore, but she also feels more confident and more powerful than she has in years.</p>
<p>She’s not going to get left behind again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Check out my <a href="https://jesperr-fahey.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> and yell at me about kingdom hearts!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>